Jack Jeffrey, a biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge, is known to thousands of refuge visitors for his lucid, witty and empathetic descriptions of the unique flora and fauna of Hawai`i that are … Continued
I seek to travel to isolated places in the islands because I’ve found that these natural areas have unforeseen characteristics that make each place distinctive and even mythical. Before I flew to Moloka`i to kayak the northeastern coast with my … Continued
The proposed designation of nearly 100,000 acres as critical habitat on Kaua`i and Ni`ihau is just the first of several proposals that have been floated in Hawai`i by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in recent months. Here is a … Continued
Much of the speculation over the impacts of critical habitat designation, at least on Kaua`i, was supposed to have been answered by the draft economic analysis released to the public on May 28. The analysis, prepared for the Fish and … Continued
Tilapia Aren’t to Blame For High Nitrogen Level At Kaua`i Shrimp Pond I wish to respond to something reported in Teresa Dawson’s article in the June 2002 issue of Environment Hawai`i, “CEATECH Violates Discharge Permit, Blames Tilapia for High Nitrogen … Continued
November 2000: A storm moving in from the Eastern Pacific in late October has left the eastern slopes of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa waterlogged from the tree line down to the coast. By November 1, when a second storm … Continued
O`ahu `Elepaio Mary Kawena Pukui cites a Hawaiian proverb, Ho`okolo aku i ka nui manu. Go inquire of the other birds. Go and consult others, and in her gloss on its origin, a mischievous `elepaio plays the starring role: One … Continued
Draft rules, a draft environmental impact statement, and projects whose scope and impacts remain inscrutable to all but the contractors and their government supervisors. That, in a nutshell, describes the nature of the work being done in Hilo in the … Continued
An Interview with Biologist Stuart Pimm For 15 years, biologist Stuart Pimm studied Hawaiian birds. He no longer works in Hawai`i, but Pimm credits his years here with changing his approach to science. Watching critters go extinct virtually under his … Continued
DLNR Moves To Ban Houses In Flood Areas After six years and a recent lawsuit and contested case, the Department of Land and Natural Resources took steps last month to repeal a rule that encourages construction in flood-prone areas of … Continued